So I'm cheating, just this once - Part 2

Hello again. Here is the last two postings from that other blog I told you about yesterday.
I seem a little surly in sections but I can see why I wasn't really in a good mood when I wrote them.
What's really interesting is that in the March 11, 2007 post I talk about flu shots and how they affect me.
Years ago I was convinced that flu shots absolutely worked for me. Then for a while I felt that the shots were hokey and didn't bother getting them. I usually get sick anyway a few times over the course of a year. Although I can't tell you if it's flu or just a cold.
To tell you the truth I honestly don't remember if the shots work for me or not. I really should keep track of these things.
Last year I had my flu shot at the Village office along with the other members of Council and the Village staff.
It was mentioned that in the event of a pandemic the Village office becomes an emergency center and the staff and Council are called upon to man and co-ordinate.
I guess it's sort of mandatory that we get shots. That's fine with me.
Of course recently the big news is the H1N1 strain which could potentially immobilize millions of people worldwide.
I'm getting my shot next Thursday at my workplace so I don't need to get it at the Village office this year.
The boys have never had flu shots in their lives but we are pretty certain that we want them to have them this year. Just in case.
Their new school is pretty darn big and there are far more germs flying around than there were at little New Maryland Elementary School.
I think most families are having shots this year as a precaution.
We shall see how it goes.

Anyway, enough of this jibber jabber. Let's have a look at my vintage jibber jabber shall we?

March 7, 2007
Try Honeywell, heater, fire hazard, melt

I was wondering how to get other people who have almost had fires due to a obviously faulty electric Honeywell heater to find me to relate their similar incidents?
Perhaps if they Google words like: Honeywell, fire hazard, faulty, melt, melted, melting, plastic, burning smell, kaz, surround, recall, smoke, hot, electrical, flame, flames, detector, wiring, company, customer service, feedback, emergency, they will find this page and know to add a comment.
I will reply.
I'll put these words in the tags.
Honeywell has not replied to my e-mail with photos of my melted heater yet.
I hope they do soon. I'm not too happy about this.
Good thing I was here before it went up in flames and took the house with it.


Hmm. I remember that fun very well.
In case you couldn't tell we had a Honeywell electric space heater that decided to commit suicide and melt into itself.
Fortunately we were home and in the same room at the time. It could have been catastrophic for us if we were out.
I remember that Honeywell DID get back to me eventually. I sent them back the charred husk of the fried heater and they sent me a sparkly new heater which turned out to be a newer model.
I never heard anything further from them so I hope that their extensive testing didn’t reveal a major technical flaw in the heaters. (Extensive testing… Did you like that part?)
So far the new heater has worked well. So far. (I am knocking on wood in between key strokes.)

Here is the last of my inaugural blogs:


March 11, 2007
I am so smart, S M R T!

The first step in solving a problem is admitting that I have it. Hello there, my name is Tim and I am a dope.
Welcome Tim, all the rest of us are too.
The "rest" that I refer to are all of these other dopes here on a Sunday afternoon waiting to see a doctor at the after-hours clinic on Regent Street in Fredericton.
There's about 50 or 60 of us and we range in age from 1 to 75. Different colours and shapes and sizes from different backgrounds and walks of life.
What we all have in common is that we are coughing and sneezing from what I will bet is the same damn flu virus.
I will exclude the babies and children from the "dope" category and slap it on their parents instead. This isn't the kid's fault that their parents didn't take them for a flu shot.
I have personally known for years that the flu shots work for me and if I get sick it's usually just a cold. Did I get a flu shot this year? Nope, and I'm a dope.
My dopiness runs deeper though. Lemme tell you why.
This started last weekend when the family went to Saint John to see a hockey game. We stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Express. I went into the hot tub for a few minutes.
I was still feeling cruddy on Wednesday when the kids went to a movie with a friend. Did I go home and rest? No way. I went for a 4 km. walk in the UNB woodlot for over an hour. It was minus 13 Celsius out there!
For some reason this dope thought that the icy blasting air would help me feel better. I was sweating like crazy too!
Then, to wrap up a brilliant week I took the boys on Friday to the public cesspool, sorry, I meant swimming pool.
It was packed with thousands of drooling, germ ridden, urinating, kids. I was in there for an hour and a half.
I should have figured when the chills started that something was going wrong and my body really didn't want to swim in the germ broth anymore.
Late at night I was awakened by the comforting sensation of an inability to breathe without convulsive coughing.
The debilitating pain in my head was lovely too!
Yessiree. I felt like I was going to die there.
I almost asked Cheryl to call 911 but decided not to.
How embarassing would it be if this is just a silly sinus infection and I went by ambulance?
I rolled around in pain all night. It would have helped to get some Advil but moving around was agony.
In the morning I chucked down some Ibruprofen and ended up sleeping a while.
Probably a good idea to get checked out at the clinic today, right?
Naw, it's not so bad now. Won't bother.
I'll be right as rain tomorrow I'm sure.
Now is that tomorrow.
Last night was another voyage into the bowels of hell. Today Cheryl told me to go to the walk in clinic.
I AM a dope but I'm getting better. I did listen to Sweety after all and here I am.
Number 25 in the line. I can't say for certain that all these other folks are as dopey as me but they sound like me so I'm betting dollars to donuts that many of them are.
We are so smart! S M R T!

**Added 8:40 p.m. same day. I waited 2 hours and 45 minutes and found out that I don't have the flu. I don't have an infection. No antibiotics prescribed. I DO have a problem with my breathing. (REALLY?!) I was prescribed a puffer like almost everyone else there today. Now, I sleep!


Wow. Not much I can say about that blog except that the boys and I haven’t been to that public pool in a very long time. Just a coincidence.
And, knocking on wood again, I haven’t had one of those sinus infections in a while.
They’re nasty so I’m not going to talk about that anymore. It could curse me.

Another thing I should mention is that I was going through my Blackberry emails the other day to see the treasures buried in there before I get rid of the thing very soon.
I can’t believe how many blogs I started composing and didn’t finish! Some of them aren’t even relevant anymore but I think I’ll look for some that are and post them.
That’s not really laziness since it is so much work.

I had better get on it.

Stay well,
Tim